Samsung Galaxy Note8 vs Galaxy S8

The Samsung Galaxy Note8 was unveiled at the Unpacked 2017 event on August 23rd, joining the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus as the company's flagship device to launch for 2017. But how does the Galaxy Note8 match up to the highly advanced S8 aside from the S Pen?

The Note8 and Galaxy S8 sport the same 18.5:9 aspect ratio, but with a larger screen at 6.3 inches, while the S8 is at 5.8 inches. Both devices have the same front facing camera, while the Note8 alone has the Dual-rear cameras and dual OIS. With increased RAM of 6GB and storage capacity options up to 256 GB, the Note8 has slightly improved performance compared to the S8. There are similar software experiences between the devices, but the Note8 offers extra features that come for the S Pen.

Let's take a deeper dive into each spec and see how the devices line up side by side.

Design

Although the designs are similar between the Galaxy Note8 and S8 with the same aspect ratio and infinity screen, the Note8's screen is quite a bit larger at 6.3 inches. The Note8 also needed to be able to accommodate space for the S Pen, so the device is slightly wider at 162.5 x 74.8 x 8.6mm and heavier at 195g.

The Note8 also has the metal and glass waterproof design as well as the IP68 waterproof rating, just like the Samsung Galaxy S8.

Display

In terms of resolution, the S8 and Note8 both have a Quad HD+, with pixel counts at 2960 x 1440. The Galaxy S8 has the higher pixel density at 570ppi, compared to the Note8 at 522ppi, however Samsung states the difference is trivial and won't be noticed on the display.

Camera

Here's where things start to differ. The Note8 sports dual rear cameras that consist of two 12-megapixel sensors, one wide angle lens and one telephoto. The Note8's wide angle camera has an aperture of f/1.7 while the telephoto sensor has an aperture of f/2.4 offering dual optical image stabilization, the first smartphone ever to do so! The front facing camera for Galaxy S8 and Note8 both have an 8-megapixel sensor with an f/1.7 aperture auto focus lens with iris scanning capabilities.

The rear camera on the S8 however, has a single 12-megapixel camera with autofocus, optical image stabilization and a f/1.7 aperture with 8 times digital zoom.

Hardware/Software

Both devices sport the latest hardware, Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 platform, but the Note8 has increased RAM of up to 256GB, while the S8 offers 64GM of internal storage. The battery capacity of the S8 (3000mAh) is slightly less than that of the Note8 at 3300mAh. Unlike the Galaxy S8, the Note8 comes with AKG Audio advancing its quality of sound.

Because the Note8 shares the Android Nougat as the S8, their user experience is quite similar. The Note8 however does offer additional features such as app pairing, Live Focus, Live Message, and a Translate feature that will translate a sentence in 76 languages.

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